This driving route parallels the hiking trail, from the top of New England to the heart of Dixie, taking you through continuous natural beauty—without the sweat, bugs, or blisters.

Maggie Valley

The Blue Ridge Parkway swings south from Asheville through Transylvania County on the approach to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, though you’ll save an hour or more by following the I-40 freeway to the junction with US-19, which links up with the south end of the parkway. This stretch of US-19, winding through the Maggie Valley over the foothills of the Great Smokies, is a very pretty drive, and absolutely packed with roadside Americana—miniature golf courses, trout farms, souvenir shops, lookout towers alongside pancake houses, barbecue shacks; you name it, it’s here.

Ghost Town in the Sky is more than an old Appalachian ghost town: it’s an amusement park with roller coasters, bumper cars, and all the usual suspects, high on the side of the Great Smoky Mountains. Built in the 1960s, the park today is a very odd combo of religious-themed Wild West amusement park with zip lines and quotes from scripture.